Last year, Pleasant Valley and Muscatine squared off in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A state softball tournament. That day, it was the Muskies who walked away with the win on their way to placing third.

Back at Rogers Park Wednesday, it was the Spartans not only gaining a matter of redemption but punching their ticket into Thursday’s state championship game.

Behind a quick start and a strong finish, No. 6 Pleasant Valley earned a 7-1 victory over its Mississippi Athletic Conference rival, advancing to face top-ranked Ankeny Centennial on Kruger Seeds Field at 5 p.m.

“We are never content or comfortable,” Pleasant Valley head coach Jose Lara said. “We knew we had to continue to apply pressure and keep scoring runs. When you are in that moment, you don’t know what you’ll need.”

Jessie Clemons, an Iowa State University commit, and Mary Paige Withers both had home runs, as Clemons finished 3-for-4 and Withers was 2-for-4 with four RBI courtesy of her grand slam. Kasey Kane added a pair of RBI.

Katelyn Merkel was in control, scattering nine hits with one earned run, one strikeout and one walk.

During the year, Pleasant Valley swept the series, winning 2-1 and 8-5. Under Lara, the Spartans have won titles in 2017 and ’18. While this was a familiar opponent, Ankeny Centennial will be new to the eyes of Lara.

“We haven’t seen them, but they also haven’t seen us,” Lara said. “We’ll watch some film and break down what we can. We know they are the No. 1 team in the state but we’ll be ready to go and compete.”

Muscatine (33-7) will take on Southeast Polk (31-10) for third place on Iowa Central Field Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Becca Haag and Mia Moline each had two hits, while Lilly Gray drove in a run.

PLEASANT VALLEY 7,

MUSCATINE 1

Muscatine 000 000 1 — 1 9 0

Pleasant Valley 001 006 x — 7 12 0

WP–Kaitlyn Merkel (7 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K). LP–Maura Chalupa (6 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 2 K).

HR–PV: Jessie Clemons, Mary Paige Withers. 2B–PV: Kasey Kane. RBI–M: Lilly Gray; PV: Jessie Clemons, Kasey Kane (2), Mary Paige Withers (4).